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My first recollection of Led Zeppelin was in the summer of 1970. My family had a favourite restaurant we frequented in the South End of our little town. Walking there on summer evenings, the scene had changed starting in 1968. Brightly dressed, long-haired kids hung out all over the streets, in doorways and on the sidewalks. You had to step over them at times to get where you were going. My parents were less than thrilled and somewhat perplexed, as we picked our way through the youthful throng. But Mom and Dad took it all in stride, thankful that their kids weren’t part of it.
As a nine year old, I was fascinated by these teenaged kids – disdainfully dubbed “hippies” by everyone who wasn’t one of them. Our family haunt’s clientele had definitely changed complexion in recent times. It was obvious, even to me, that whatever this “hippie” thing was, it wasn’t going away anytime soon. And neither was the music they liked to listen to and play.
In the corner stood a jukebox that played constantly. This night would be my introduction to Led Zeppelin. Some kids had selected Dazed and Confused. I couldn’t believe how strange the sounds were. I had never heard anything like this music. It was unsettling, yet exciting!
Up until then, I’d been listening to my father’s music – stacks of English brass band records like Earl’s Court Citadel Band, Black Dyke Mills Band and various Salvation Army bands. Obviously, Led Zeppelin had taken a completely different approach to its music than had its brass-blowing countrymen! I knew nothing about rock’n’roll but, that summer night in 1970, Led Zeppelin registered as unique. Nothing I had ever listened to before had prepared me for what Led Zeppelin was churning out on that record machine during Dazed and Confused.
That was thirty-eight years ago. The restaurant, jukebox and hippies are long gone. The only thing that has remained unchanged from those days is my memory of the electrifying excitement and eerie wonderment I first heard in Led Zeppelin’s music.
How could I have known then that I would come to spend over 18,000 hours researching Led Zeppelin’s music and legacy? The experience has brought me countless hours of enjoyment and I want nothing more than to take others down that research path of discovery.
Sonic Boom: The Impact of Led Zeppelin. Volume 1 – Break & Enter, is the first of three planned publications celebrating Led Zeppelin’s 40th anniversary. I conducted over forty primary source interviews to find out the “where, when, how and why” Led Zeppelin became a pioneer in the world of popular music. Many of these people were on the scene to help the band “break and enter” in 1968. Their knowledge, expertise and personal recollections will provide fascinating information you’ve never seen in print before. If you’re ready to rock, let’s roll!
Frank Reddon, Author
June 2008/updated September 2011
Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada
A Primer on Jimmy Page
Many of you will already be familiar with the background of Led Zeppelin’s founding member, Jimmy Page. For those of you who are just learning about rock’n’roll’s premier super group, it’s helpful to understand where and how it all began.
James Patrick Page was born on January 9, 1944 in Heston, Middlesex, England. His father was a personnel officer. The Page family lived in the bucolic English countryside where Jimmy enjoyed his rural, outdoor life. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Epsom, a suburb of London close to Heathrow Airport.
Jimmy sang in a choir and was only mildly interested in music until the age of twelve, when someone gave the Page family a Spanish guitar. At first, the instrument was virtually ignored. Then one day Jimmy heard a record that caught his ear. It was Elvis Presley’s song Baby Let’s Play House. Released in 1955, it was The King’s fourth single for the Sun Records label of Memphis, Tennessee. Someone at school showed him some chords and he took it from there on his own.
The boy was hooked! He even had the guitar taken away from him at school, he was so into it. The instrument was returned to him at the end of classes and he’d go right back at it. From then on, music was to be a big part of his life.
He formed a band with three other teens. The James Page Skiffle Group consisted of Jimmy and another lad on dual lead guitars, a stand-up bass player who built his own string bass and a drummer. Jimmy sang back-up for his friend on guitar who also sang lead vocals.
In the 1950s, there was a television variety show on BBC-TV called All Your Own. Hosted by Huw Wheldon, the program showcased different kinds of talent. The James Page Skiffle Group performed on the show April 6, 1958. After having performed two skiffle songs, the band members were interviewed by Wheldon. Jimmy Page revealed his ambition to do biological research, possibly into cancer.
As we all know now, the only research Jimmy got into was the musical kind. His parents indulged and cultivated their son’s passion for music. Jimmy would invite his guitar-crazy friends, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, to his parents’ home on weekends to jam.
At the age of fifteen, Jimmy Page decided to join a London area band called Neil Christian and The Crusaders. Touring proved to be too much for his fragile health and he frequently suffered bouts of glandular fever. Around this time, he began jamming at London’s famous music club, The Marquee, with musicians like Eric Clapton.
Page decided to attend art college and get involved in studio session work instead of touring. He was already playing guitar well enough for such demanding work. He had the talent to make a comfortable living at it and he could avoid the health problems he’d had on the road. A short time later, Jimmy Page was one of the most respected and sought-after session musicians in England.
He worked on hundreds of recording studio sessions, playing everything from elevator music to songs by The Who, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones and a host of other artists. It was a well known fact that, if a producer wanted it done right on guitar in the studio, Page could do it.
While his session work was paying the bills, and rather well, Jimmy’s creativity and musical growth were being stunted by the long hours and monotony of the studio. He had the vision to see that the guitar
